


Drowning In Time

by Serpex



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Angst, Angst and Tragedy, Death, Depression, Emotionally Repressed, Loneliness, Loss of Control, Loss of Faith, Loss of hope, M/M, Memories, Murder, Post-Eclipse, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Regrets, Repressed Memories, Rogue Looks Back At Past, Sadness, Suicide, loss of friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-07
Updated: 2018-07-19
Packaged: 2019-01-30 14:06:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12655047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Serpex/pseuds/Serpex
Summary: There are times when we regret our life decisions. And once I had thrown away all my rationality in order to bring forward a brighter future. Yet, here I am living on without you. You and Frosch were the ones I wanted to save the most. But instead, you two are ones that I must live without now. So, I wanted to come and say my final farewell.





	1. Frog

Do you remember how we met Frosch? You were a tiny little guy back then. I saw you being yelled at for having no form of payment for a frog suit. I couldn't stand by and walk away, but rather your adorable behavior took over whatever emotionless feeling I ever possessed.

I bought the pink suit for you and another for good measure. You and I became friends since that day forward. I never wanted to be alone again. Every time you got went somewhere without my knowledge, I went ballistic. And I guess I did overreact a bit. Okay, I was crazy. But, I just wish I could have saved you.

If you never came with me on that mission with Minerva, then maybe you wouldn't have died. I tried to change the past for you, to bring you back. But the fact I'm still here means something changed. But you Frosch, you're gone forever. A life that is lost can't come back. And now I'm alone again.


	2. River

It was a sunny day on that fateful morning because I could remember how your pale bleach blonde hair glistened along the river. I watched you from afar behind a tree with Frosch, staying in the shadows like I had been my whole life.

 

But you knew I was there.

 

Yet, you did not approach me, but let me watch. You tried to tempt me into that river with you each day you bathed in this river. In all honesty, maybe I was the bigger pervert out of both of us for watching.

 

But, one day, you didn't appear. I creeped around the tree I normally stood behind peering out only to see clear water making its natural course absentmindedly. I slowly stepped away from the shadow of the tree and tip toed to the riverbank. I looked left. I looked right. I looked back down into my reflection.

 

Suddenly, a glimmer appeared in the water and I whipped my head around only to feel a force crash into my body. Your shrill but enlightening laughter filled the mild air as I sat there soaking wet grimacing as rocks seemed to sink into my bottom. Frosch ran out in tears but I quickly reassured him everything was okay.

 

I didn't sense any malice coming from you.

 

I remember you reaching your guiding hand or and pulling me back to my feet looking up to greet your blue eyes that shined even more brilliantly than the sky.

 

"You should have seen your face," you said to me. "Serves you right for staring at me all the time. Hah, I'm Sting Eucliffe by the way. I'm gonna be the strongest dragon slayer who ever lived." I blushed slightly and averted my gaze.

 

"Rogue Cheney. Shadow dragon slayer," I mumbled in compliance. It was at that point you beamed at me. You told me that you were going to be my friend and I didn't have any regrets about that.

 

But after the day I lost Frosch, I couldn't handle seeing your light anymore. So, I took it away forever.

 

I wonder if the things I sought for had succeeded in the past, would you have come back too?

 

But now, I can do nothing but hold your body absent of life and look at the hole gaping where your heart should have been.

 

But only empty space is there thanks to me. I made myself become alone.


	3. Chain

The sky no longer shines a bright blue or even a peach glow. It's burns a desolate midnight with winnowing clouds snaking across. The cliff I sit here at overlook a sea of dead trees. They are skinny and bare like skeleton effigies of what fate had been brought into this world.

 

I've been sitting here for what seems like an endless loop. Sting's body is cradled under my right arm. Frosch's costume is tucked in my left. The world is turning into a black and white facade. And I know that beyond this forest of death, a golden field is there with everyone else.

 

But I am not worthy to stand by them. I abandoned them so they will abandon me. That is the fate that I've opened for myself, a fate that will swallow me whole.

 

A small rustle beneath me grows steadily closer. An armored hand grips the edge as a figure pulls himself up onto the ledge.

 

"Gihi, so this is where you've been hiding," Gajeel's voice tittered, but his eyes glowed crimson with vengeance, almost like the world was becoming a void with his gaze st the center. "You're quite the wanted war criminal, Ryos."

 

"...It's Rogue," I said quietly. Gajeel clicked his tongue as he rolled the tongue piercing over his teeth.

 

"You're certainly worthy of that name now, I suppose," he said. "Over 500 murders and treason against the royals. Even as far as your own comrades. And to defeat Acnologia, you took upon black magic yourself. And then, you suddenly appear and go into hiding after nearly pushing Lucy into death— No. I should say, the one who murdered Lucy. But she's come back thanks to Natsu in the past. Our past selves have all begun to walk another path, Ryos. I'm sure you've seen it, haven't you? You saw it when Natsu hunted you down."

 

The vague image of the fire dragon slayer who had tracked me down and beat me surfaced. He was tagged and covered in wounds all from his efforts to find me. And with tears in his eyes and his cries for Lucy, he'd tried to burn my heart out. But he had vanished.

 

Most likely, it was because of what had occurred in the past. Because of the change I brought unto the Grand Magic Games, he was on a new path; his existence in this world a null.

 

Gajeel seemed to sense I knew exactly what he spoke of.

 

"You, me, and only a few others remain. Seven people at most since I left to fulfill Salamander's unfinished business three days ago. But I don't know who's passed since," he stated. "But I know that before I go, I'm not letting you off the hook. I'm dragging you down with me."

 

A small voice in my mind suddenly grew and festered. It was the same voice I'd heard so many years ago when I first fought Gajeel. But I had no intention to listening anymore. Even the shadow could not substitute this loneliness.

 

"I won't resist," I said to Gajeel. "There is nothing left for me. End me." Gajeel's eyes softened slightly but he nodded. There was nothing left to say. I closed my eyes and Gajeel wrapped his arms around my neck. They transformed into a chain and I felt Gajeel tense.

 

"You know," he whispered with a slight tremble in his voice. "Even though you've done all these bad things, you're still a good kid. I wish that I could have helped you. I should have back in Phantom Lord." A sudden tingling sensation resonated behind my head. A low hum filled the air and I could tell that Gajeel was beginning to fade. His own past self was moving forward. My grip tightened on Sting's corpse and Frosch's clothing as I felt sipping wet tears fall. Gajeel's resolve was breaking. But even then, he tightened his hold.

 

"You were always my favorite dragon slayer, Gajeel. But, don't let the past hold up. Even you and I both know that only the future can be redeemed for our mistakes. This future may be finished, but you and I are still walking in another time."

 

Gajeel huffed and exhaled sharply.

 

"You're right," he mumbled. "But you even take a step in the wrong direction and I'll make my past self snap your neck so quickly," he spat.

 

I chuckled and said, "Might as well do it now. Make it quick." I opened my eyes for once final look as Gajeel pulled his arms, and I found the wind being knocked out of my body. There was a golden flash and then a white blank void.

 

I lost all my senses, and then there was nothing.

 

I am truly alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was something I started a long time ago, and it was sitting unfinished in my drafts for a long time. With work and getting ready for my senior year of high school, I couldn't find too much time to write, but this was didn't need many words to get what I wanted to say across. So I finished it up, and although it was a little rushed, I hope you guys didn't mind it too much. 
> 
> I haven't really written any Fairy Tail content in a while so I hope this kind of makes up for some of it. ^^


End file.
